Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Greg Hetson left Bad Religion?

As many of you might know, Bad Religion's guitarist Greg Hetson didn't play with the band on the latest Groezrock festival. There are some rumors floating around.. Is Greg Hetson out of Bad Religion? There isn't any official statement by the band, but this is what you can read on the Ont Road Fanzie:

Moving on from the best technical punk-rock band of all time, it was then time for the best melodic punk-rock band of all time, Bad Religion. We’d heard a rumour earlier that day from their German tour driver that Greg Hetson was not with the band. This was confirmed when they stepped onto the stage as a four piece, leaving Brian Baker to take on the whole of the guitar playing duties. This situation didn’t sound good on paper, yet we we’re soon proven wrong. This rare opportunity to see them as a four piece brought a whole new dimension to seeing the band live (something that @Vegetauren and I have done on way too many occasions). It felt and sounded like Bad Religion of the past: the songs sounded more urgent as they weren’t able to let the songs be carried by the usual depth of rhythm and melody, and this resulted in a purer punk sounding Bad Religion, akin to their sound we’ve all heard on the bootlegs from the earlier days. Brian Baker was hitting note for note, and holding it strong, and Jay Bentley owned that stage, moving around like a punker is his twenties, not forties. Thankfully they’d also mixed their set up a little since their last visit, so as well as playing the usual classics, we were treated to seven songs from the latest album True North (which is testament to how much of a great record it is), none from The Dissent of Man (!), and a plethora of rarely played live songs, such as Beyond Electric Dreams, Against the Grain, and Submission Complete. Greg Graffins’ usual dose of dry humour between songs was also on fine form, when he was teasing the crowd about the rain, finishing with the words, “the easiest thing to do, is say fuck you”, a line from their last single that was specifically released on the day of the US presidential election. By the time they had finished their 90 minute set with the ‘Department of False Hope’ I was shattered, yet full of faith that Bad Religion still are and always will be the best punk-rock band of all time. And if you don’t believe me you’re a schmuck, because the trend won’t die out without any luck.